05/02: When Would We Win Without Wang? 6 W's for the Ace as Yanks Top M's, 5-1
Posted by: Patrick
Taiwan's number one son and sweetheart to all the ladies, Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang, improved to 6-0 with a 90 pitch, 6 inning, 1 earned run performance against the Mariners on Friday night.
Wang's opponent, Erik Bedard, was pretty good himself, but was hurt by his team's poor defense.The Mariners committed 4 errors during the game, leading to 2 unearned runs. Those runs came early, with the first coming in the bottom of the first inning when, after a Melky Cabrera fly out, Derek Jeter reached on an error by the shortstop, Yuniesky Betancourt. Bobby Abreu proceeded to single Jeter over to second. After a Shelley Duncan strikeout, Hideki Matsui made them pay with an RBI single.
In the bottom of the second, Morgan Ensberg led the inning off by reaching on an error by third baseman Adrian Beltre. Jose Molina struck out, but Alberto Gonzalez singled, moving Ensberg over to third. Melky Cabrera drove both of them in with a double, making it 3-0, Yankees.
Wang held the Mariner bats silent through five, but in the sixth, Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single. And then he stole second. After a strikeout, he stole third. Raul Ibanez grounded out, scoring Suzuki. And then Wang retired Beltre to end the inning. At the time, the score was 3-1, and that would be all for Wang.
Kyle Farnsworth entered the 7th and - wait for it - pitched a 1-2-3 inning! Including two strikeouts, even. Joba had a relatively easy time in the 8th, retiring every batter he faced except for the pesky Suzuki, who stole yet another base.
The Yankees were able to get some insurance runs in the 8th where they collected 3 singles, a walk and a sac fly to put two more on the board. 5-1, Yankees, heading into the final frame.
Mariano was summoned to protect the 4 run lead and, well, you can't do much better than a 1-2-3 inning, right? That's exactly what he did. No save for him, but his ERA remains at 0.00.
Incredible pitching and defense from the Yanks tonight as Wang, Farnsworth, Joba and Mo combined for a 4 hitter, walking just 2 and striking out 8.
Tomorrow, at 1:05 PM ET, Mike Mussina (3-3, 4.73), coming off two good outings, will face Felix Hernandez (2-1, 2.22 ERA).
Wang's opponent, Erik Bedard, was pretty good himself, but was hurt by his team's poor defense.The Mariners committed 4 errors during the game, leading to 2 unearned runs. Those runs came early, with the first coming in the bottom of the first inning when, after a Melky Cabrera fly out, Derek Jeter reached on an error by the shortstop, Yuniesky Betancourt. Bobby Abreu proceeded to single Jeter over to second. After a Shelley Duncan strikeout, Hideki Matsui made them pay with an RBI single.
In the bottom of the second, Morgan Ensberg led the inning off by reaching on an error by third baseman Adrian Beltre. Jose Molina struck out, but Alberto Gonzalez singled, moving Ensberg over to third. Melky Cabrera drove both of them in with a double, making it 3-0, Yankees.
Wang held the Mariner bats silent through five, but in the sixth, Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single. And then he stole second. After a strikeout, he stole third. Raul Ibanez grounded out, scoring Suzuki. And then Wang retired Beltre to end the inning. At the time, the score was 3-1, and that would be all for Wang.
Kyle Farnsworth entered the 7th and - wait for it - pitched a 1-2-3 inning! Including two strikeouts, even. Joba had a relatively easy time in the 8th, retiring every batter he faced except for the pesky Suzuki, who stole yet another base.
The Yankees were able to get some insurance runs in the 8th where they collected 3 singles, a walk and a sac fly to put two more on the board. 5-1, Yankees, heading into the final frame.
Mariano was summoned to protect the 4 run lead and, well, you can't do much better than a 1-2-3 inning, right? That's exactly what he did. No save for him, but his ERA remains at 0.00.
Incredible pitching and defense from the Yanks tonight as Wang, Farnsworth, Joba and Mo combined for a 4 hitter, walking just 2 and striking out 8.
Tomorrow, at 1:05 PM ET, Mike Mussina (3-3, 4.73), coming off two good outings, will face Felix Hernandez (2-1, 2.22 ERA).
Seamus wrote: